Fellow passengers were overwhelmingly male - many Isaan guys working in Singapore (mainly in the construction sector) + a few Singaporean uncles with pockets deeper than those who can only afford to venture as far as Tanjung Pinang to be potential 'weekend husbands'. So much so that the immigration officer asked the cat what on earth had brought it to Udon - apparently he doesn't get to stamp many passports belonging to female foreigners... Months later Tiger would scrap this route, & UTH would revert to domestic airport status until Lao Airlines started UTH-LPQ flights.

Within the UTH arrival hall, coupons are sold for shared van rides into Udon Thani city, & also to the Friendship bridge at Nong Khai. Transpired that a few of the Isaan guys on board our van had left for Singapore via Bangkok years ago & had never been to Udon Thani before... We ended up stopping at all 3 of Udon Thani's bus stations (one for buses to Nong Bua Lamphu, Loei & Chiangmai, another for buses to Nong Khai, & the central one for buses to everywhere else) for the guys to ask at each if there were buses to their home villages in tambon (subdistrict) somewhere of amphoe (district) anywhere...their joy & excitement on finally returning home was palpable, all that was missing was ลูกทุ่ง luuk thung music playing on the van's radio to complete the scene :)

Staff wanted to see the red singkapor passports before selling us bus tickets to Vientiane (5 baht extra for weekends).

Met 2 Singaporean guys of the non-uncle variety who'd been on the same flight & were going to take the same bus (& would return on the same flight too!). One of them was returning to visit his YEP project site in Vientiane, with a big fat poster board of project participant photos as a gift for his Lao hosts :)